Entries tagged as ‘sports’
I’m not much of a runner, but I still manage to get out there. I do it in all weather all year round —but I will never, ever again think that I’m hardcore -even for a second- after reading this story:
Arizona: Jogger Attacked by Rabid Fox
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A jogger was attacked by a rabid fox, ran a mile with the animal’s jaws clamped on her arm and then drove herself to a hospital, the authorities said. The Yavapai County sheriff’s office said the woman told deputies that she was on a trail near Prescott on Monday when the fox attacked and bit her foot. The woman said that she grabbed the fox by the neck when it went for her leg but that it bit her arm. The woman wanted the animal tested for rabies so she ran a mile to her car with the fox still biting her arm, then pried the animal off and tossed it in her trunk and drove to the Prescott hospital. The sheriff’s office said the fox later bit an animal-control officer. He and the woman are both receiving rabies vaccinations.
By the way: runners get all bent out of shape when you call them “joggers” —especially if they have a fox hanging off their arm.
Categories: News
Tagged: sports, Women
October 24, 2008 · 1 Comment
As a lifelong Met fan, I take great pleasure in invoking the name Bill Buckner in front of the many obnoxious denizens of Red Sox Nation —but what Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) did yesterday was unconscionable.
At a congressional hearing on the credit crisis, Yarmuth compared the performance of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, one time Treasury Secretary John Snow and SEC Chairman Christopher Cox to Bill Buckner’s famous error in the 1986 World Series.
“I feel like I’m looking at three Bill Buckners here,” said Yarmuth. “The ball went through your legs.”
Ouch! It’s one thing to razz a Red Sox fan about Buckner, but bring his name up on the floor of congress? To describe the biggest financial disaster in recent history? That’s just plain cold.
Let this be a lesson: screw up bad enough and you’ll still hear about it 22 years later. And coincidentally, 22 years is how long it will take for my 401K to recover.
Categories: News
Tagged: sports
September 10, 2008 · 2 Comments
Some people find squirrels absolutely repellent. Not me.
Yes, they do have a certain rat-like quality, but look how interesting and amusing they are! Like the time at work when we forgot to close the window. Squirrels got in the office and ran all over, leaving tiny footprints on the desks. Then they collected some M&Ms from down the hall and hid them everywhere. I’m still finding them. Anyhow, I’m not sure how you mark this on the scorecard, but see how this stray squirrel became the star of a recent game between the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians.
Categories: News
Tagged: entertainment, sports
I stopped touting three-year-old colt Madeo after he lost a couple of times —and after several people following my advice lost money. I knew he was running on Sunday, but decided I’d be better off throwing away $20 at The Great Escape than throwing it away at OTB. Was I ever wrong.
Running in the $350,000 Del Mar Derby, Madeo came from behind to beat 9-10 favorite Gio Ponti by half a length. He paid $23.60 on a $2 bet. Damn!
And why call a horse Madeo? He’s named for a popular Italian restaurant in West Hollywood —the sort of place where the paparazzi hang around outside to get pictures of celebrities. From one patron’s Yelp review: “My girlfriend took me here for my birthday and we saw Chris Martin, Gwenyth Paltrow, Orlando Bloom at one table and at another table was Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson.” If you go, just remember: it’s not cool to stare.
Categories: News
Tagged: gambling, sports
When you don’t watch much TV to begin with, being without one for a week is no big deal —except during the Olympics. Like a lot of people, when it comes to the Olympics, I’ll pretty much watch anything that NBC puts in front of me. Women’s doubles badminton semifinals? Bring ‘em on. Individual 70m archery preliminaries? I’m there. But this week on vacation I’ve seen nothing.
That doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping up with the action in the newspaper. I must say, the US Gold in the men’s swimming 4×100 relay sounded so exciting in the New York Times that I jumped right out of my beach chair and cheered.
I know what you’re saying: Excuse me, Rob, but if you have the internet why don’t you just watch online? I’ll tell you why, smarty pants, because the WiFi connection I’m borrowing from the neighbor is awful. Really, it’s sketchy to the point of being primitive. Jeez! What’s wrong with those people?
I think back in the office next week I’ll need some serious closed door time to catch up on my email and return phone calls. Especially on Monday morning, when the US men take on Japan in volleyball and the table tennis gold medal match is on USA Network…
Categories: Modern Living
Tagged: sports, The Internets, tv
MYSTERIOUS MAIL I get lots of weird mail at work, some of it addressed to me as the company “President”, but I’m really curious how I got on the mailing list for Black Enterprise magazine. Not complaining here —especially not with articles like this about my main man, Barack Obama, but it just seems a little odd. I didn’t think I was in the target demo, but maybe I was made some sort of honorary black entrepreneur. Perhaps I’ll get invited to go hang out with Russell Simmons or something.
ABOUT DOGS At dinner recently we got on the subject of dogs and strokes. Zack asked, “If a dog has a stroke does it end up with slurred bark?” Good question.
ALSO ABOUT DOGS We can’t name many of our neighbors or any of the children running around, but we know the names of all the dogs: Penny, Fenway, Shelby, Fanny, Max, Skipper (Skip for short), Hank, and Fenway. Yes, there are two dogs named Fenway. Boston fans. I’m naming my next dog Bill Buckner.
Categories: Work
Tagged: dogs, sports
GOTTA SERVE SOMEONE Zack surprised us on the way out of Mass Sunday, announcing that he’d like to be a lector someday. We were really impressed by this because we’ve worked so hard to keep him interested in church. I was halfway to the car before I realized why he was suddenly so keen on getting involved —and it had everything to do with first reading, Zechariah 9:9-10:
See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, Meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.
Like every 12-year-old, he just wants to say ass in church.
ON THE INTERNET, NOBODY KNOWS YOUR A DOG I don’t really have time for it, but I’ve gotten myself involved in another online project: Dog 365. For the next year, I will post one picture a day of Scarlett, the Australian Shepherd who can’t manage to keep her tongue out of my mouth. I’d like to tell you that this is some sort of satire about the relationship we have with our pets, but like a lot of things I’ve done online, I didn’t really put that much thought into it.
POST TIME Madeo couldn’t quite get it done at the May 24 Alydar Stakes, losing by a neck to long shot Trevor’s Clever. His owners and trainer continue to have high hopes for the three-year-old, who’s entered in Saturday’s $350,000 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park. Madeo won’t be the favorite this time. Among the entries are Kentucky Derby horse Colonel John, who will likely head to The Travers if he wins this race. Does that mean Madeo could end up in the Travers if he wins? Not likely, especially considering he’s never run on dirt.
Categories: Religion · The Internets
Tagged: dogs, gambling, Kids, Religion, sports
I’m not the oldest person on Facebook, but I’d guess I’m in the top 5%. At my age, it’s nice to know you’ve made it to the top 5% in something. Anyway, I joined up because I read that I needed to take control of my “personal brand identity” and that Facebook is one of the essential tools. I think what they mean is that you need to keep a grip on what people find when they search your name. And what they don’t find. And what I didn’t want found was my running times.
After almost 15 years of running, I’m still not one of those sleek, fast people who look natural doing it. I never will be. That’s OK, but since everything’s on the web these days, my race results were right at the top of my online life. Was that bad? Probably not. Most normal people would find running in races a positive thing. But runners? No, they would look at it is and say, “He’s, SLOWWW. VERRRY slow. Look at THIS: a 1:28 15K! And, oh my God: a FIVE HOUR marathon!” Yeah, five hours. Worst five hours of my life.
For better or worse, I’ve pretty much buried the slow race results behind all the other crap I’m doing online. But I’m not sure it worked out the way I wanted. And look at it this way: five hours is a long time, but I was out there running for two-and-a-half hours longer than the winner, right? That’s gotta count for something.
Categories: The Internets
Tagged: sports, web
It’s official: my piece about the Bethlehem Soccer Club’s cool new eagle logo was a hit! Here’s what readers of the Times Union’s Bethlehem Blog had to say:
“As a Bethlehem resident and as a player in the Bethlehem soccer club for the last 15 years I find it absurd and troubling that you would point this out.”
“You are not too bright.”
“Here’s a little bit of advice for you, next time before you write you might wanna think a little bit.”
“Maybe you should spend less time criticizing others that are volunteering their time to help your child, and more time raising your child.”
“Do you have anything better to do with your time?”
I was also called ignorant. Twice. Anyway, as you can see from this picture, kids in Bethlehem -like this unidentified child- are wild about the new logo and have fully embraced its deeper meaning.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Keyboard Krumbs did not conceive, assist in the production, or solicit the creation of the accompanying photo.
Categories: Kids
Tagged: bad ideas, blogging, sports
When Zack was little we had a wonderful woman come to the house and watch him every day. Sylvia was in her sixties and she was as sweet and nice as could be. It meant a lot that we could have him stay at home, and we always felt that he was in good hands.
One day Sylvia brought over a little rake so Zack could get out back and make like he was doing yard work. It was the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. Then me and Alex found another use for the rake.
I don’t know how, but we discovered you could scoop up dog poop with the little rake, and wielding it like a lacrosse stick, hurl it over the fence against the barn next door. It would strike with a thud. What we found especially delightful was when it stuck to the wall of the barn. This depended on a number of factors, including temperature and freshness.
Did Zack tell her what we were doing or did she put two and two together, noticing the poop on the rake and the poop on the wall? We’ll never know, but when Sylvia found that we were using Zack’s little rake to catapult crap from the yard, it didn’t go over real well. She wasn’t crazy about Alex, so it didn’t matter to him, but after that things were never quite the same between me and Sylvia.
What’s the point? I’m not sure, but nine years later it still makes me feel bad. She did something special, and in turn, we did something stupid —and if it weren’t too late to apologize, I would.
Categories: Home · Kids
Tagged: bad ideas, sports
